The Athena Parthenos

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Five months ago, I was invited to go on an archaeology dig in Athens, by the Archaeological Institute of America. I found a shard, of what was most likely a clay bowl. The pottery shard had a picture engraved on it. We went on this trip, because one month previously, there had been an earthquake in Athens. Our team hoped that the earthquake had brought lost Greek artifacts, such as ceramics, closer to the surface. One day, as I combed over where the ancient villages used to stand, I discovered what I believe to solve the mystery of the Athena Parthenos. The Athena Parthenos was a forty foot high statue built by the Greek architect Phidias, in 438 B.C. The statue was dedicated to the Greek goddess, Athena, and placed in the Parthenon. The …show more content…

We were all very excited and immediately sent the pottery shard to the nearby American School of Classical Studies, in Athens. The Archaeology Department cleaned, and compared the pottery shard to other Greek pottery. They decided the pottery shard was authentic and gave me a certificate of authenticity. Then we sent the pottery shard to the University of Manchester, where they discovered a way to date clay a few years ago. It is called rehydroxlation dating. Rehydroxlation dating is a system of dating clay, using the knowledge that clay collects water over time. The University of Manchester extracted from our pottery shard, that it was made in 420 A.D. After this, our team returned to America, to further examine the pottery shard. We have spent the last four months studying it. The shard faintly depicts soldiers fighting, while another soldier carried a huge statue. Our team studied Greek history from 400 A.D to 430 A.D, and Greek mythology. No Greek myths seem to fit the picture of the shard, so we must assume it was a significant event, carved into the pottery. When studying Greek history, we discovered that the Athena Parthenos disappeared in the time period, in which the pottery shard was made. One theory is that the Romans stole the Athena Parthenos. This pottery shard could prove that to be

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